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Pak. J. Bot., 44: 143-152, Special Issue March 2012.

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COMPARATIVE MORPHOLOGICAL, ANATOMICAL AND HABITAT STUDIES ON DACTYLORHIZA ROMANA (SEB.) SOÓ SUBSP. ROMANA AND DACTYLORHIZA ROMANA (SEB.) SOÓ SUBSP. GEORGICA (KLINGE) SOÓ EX RENZ & TAUB. (ORCHIDACEAE) IN TURKEY

ERNAZ ALTUNDAG^1*, ECE SEVGI², OMER KARA³, ORHAN SEVGI⁴, HUSEYIN BARIS TECIMEN⁴ AND ILYAS BOLAT³

Abstract: In this study, 2 subspecies; Dactylorhiza romana (Seb.) Soó subsp. romana and Dactylorhiza romana (Seb.) Soó subsp. georgica (Klinge) Soó ex Renz & Taub. mainly distributed in Turkey were investigated in terms of morphological, anatomical characters and habitat properties. Plant and soil samples of D. romana subsp. romana were taken from 9 localities and D. romana subsp. georgica from 7 localities in Turkey. We observed that some of morphological characters such as; underground part length, tuber length, the longest leaf width, and bract length had different properties between both subspecies. Cross sections of the leaves, stems, tubers and roots were taken by free-hand and stained with Sartur solution and Safranin. The same procedure was performed for the surface sections of leaves and stem. Stomatal and epidermal cells, starch granules dimensions, lengths of raphides, stomata index, and cuticular thickness were measured. Anatomical characters of leaves such as cuticle thickness and stomata index displayed between two subspecies. Although D. romana subsp. georgica grows in high altitudes, D. romana subsp. romana prefers lower altitudes. The most common habitat of D. romana is meadow, macchie and forest lands. We obtained that both of them had similar soil properties, while the differencies came out by habitat properties. Morphological and habitat characters were compared with independent-T test. 

¹Department of Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Duzce University, Duzce, Turkey

²Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, Bezmialem Vakif University, Istanbul, Turkey

³Soil Science and Ecology Department, Faculty of Foresty, Bartin University, Bartin, Turkey

⁴Soil Science and Ecology Department, Faculty of Forestry, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey

*Correspondence author E-mail: ernazaltundag@gmail.com